After the Vikings finished battering and bruising the Lions – specifically Matt Stafford – in a Week 2 victory, Detroit wide receiver Golden Tate complained to the media that the Vikings played dirty.
With Detroit and Minnesota set for another division collision this Sunday at Ford Field in Detroit, Adrian Peterson told reporters during a Wednesday conference call that teams who lose always look for excuses, and that’s what he thinks Tate was doing.
“Suck it up,” Peterson said, via ESPN. “I don’t know. I really didn’t see any cheap shots or anything like that that were taken. I was celebrating the victory. When you lose, you always try to point out little things like that, so it is what it is.”
Tate didn’t comment Wednesday, but this is what he said after the first meeting:
“One hundred and ten percent,” Tate told the Detroit Free Press on Sept. 22 when asked if he thought the Vikings took cheap shots. “After watching the film there were several holds, late hits that I thought should have been called. A couple of them I wouldn’t be surprised if we turn them in (to the NFL).”
Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer answered back with a “we’re not dirty” claim, which was backed up by the NFL when league officials told Zimmer that an unnecessary roughness penalty against linebacker Anthony Barr for shoving Stafford out of bounds shouldn’t have been called. The play was legal.
MLive.com notes that Minnesota is one of the least penalized teams in the league, having been flagged 32 times for 686 yards in five games.
